Christmas Break

I will be spending Christmas and New Year's in Bohol. So to all my friends, colleagues, "admirers" (meron daw eh) and visitors here in the Philippines as well as in Singapore, the US, Germany and wherever, MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

CHEERS!!!

Sumilao Question

San Miguel Foods launched a publicity counter-offensive to the marching landless Sumilao farmers. The latter has succeeded in convincing President Arroyo to revoke the land conversion order which is being carried out by San Miguel in the disputed farm lands in Bukidnon. Ads placed in newspapers show a detailed cost-benefit analysis of how Sumilao town is going to benefit from San Miguel's investment in the area.

That is well and good, except that ownership of the land is at stake here, not the benefits of agrarian conversion. Who has the final property rights? San Miguel, or the Sumilao farmers?

The issue is complicated and goes back to Ramos' term as President, but what I understand is that the landowner with which the farmers had a dispute with, Quisumbing, got the land from the farmers (who were earlier awarded land titles under the CARP) on the condition that he convert the area into an agro-industrial area (e.g., piggery), which means it is exempted from the CARP coverage.

He failed to convert the area for agro-industrial purposes, or I suspect, he had no intention of doing that to begin with. True enough, he simply used the opportunity to take the land away from the legal CARP beneficiaries (the Sumilao farmers), to sell it sometime in the future to a company with the means to enforce the conversion, San Miguel Foods.

I sympathize with the Sumilao farmers, of course. I grew up in Bukidnon, and Sumilao is near our town of Manolo Fortich. There are large tracts of land planted with pineapples as well in Sumilao. The town is basically agricultural, and unlike many provinces in the Philippines where the land is idle, in Sumilao, the farms are productive.

UP Centennial

People, a gentle reminder: it's UP's centennial in 2008. Let's support the University's activities in the coming year, Yah?

Science & Technology will be given a stronger-than-usual focus (the leftists are not particularly happy about this) and I believe this is the right strategy to take as well. An ambitious PhP5 billion fund-raising activity (Marc, led by your teacher in Management, Emerlinda Roman) over a 5-year period is already on-going, to support UP's development plans and to attract and maintain highly-qualified personnel and teaching staff.

Download Tip

Finally, I succeeded in downloading Youtube videos to my mobile phone. I haven't been as successful with Dailymotion or Veoh but will keep on trying. Anyway, here's how:

Copy the Youtube URL to an on-line format converter (I use www.vixy.net). Choose your desired format (e.g., PSP, MP4 audio only, or 3GP for mobile phones) and click away. Download the converted file to your PC, and using your phone's multimedia software (e.g., Nokia PC Suite), transfer the converted 3GP file to your mobile, and voila!, it's done.

Dad na si Marc!

Marc sent an SMS from Singapore announcing that his wife Mimin gave birth to Megan Francesca, their first. Marc, congratulations!! Finally, you're now a daddy :) So Che, Joaquin now has a playmate, sa Singapore nga lang :)

Piazzolla: Libertango

CelloProject: Astor Piazzolla - Libertango
Uploaded by Mesami-Classics

Astor Piazzolla redefined Tango in Argentina. He took the music away from velvet drawing rooms and elite concert halls, and slapped it onto the pavements of working class Buenos Aires.

The resulting music is fiercely passionate, filled with driving and pulsating rhythms and violent climaxes that leave the listeners breathless and gasping for more.

Here's the Libertango, interpreted splendidly by Eckart Runge (Cello) and Jacques Ammon (Piano).

Language Conversations

During the 1st birthday celebration of Che's firstborn, Joaquin, very much a baby, former office colleagues were on hand to grace the affair. I had an interesting conversation with Calois (pronounced as kal-wah) a stock trader who just completed Level 10 at the Alliance Francais.

"I have 15-year old classmates who are good, imagine that! And so even if I'm so tired and beat up from work, the mere thought that kids half my age might upstage me in class, would be enough to jolt me into wakefulness and study hard."

"The demand for French and Spanish in the BPO sector is so high, agents are paid very high premiums over the standard English-speaking agents."

I know, Instituto Cervantes has so many students nowadays.

Calois and Jenny, another office colleague who is so far advanced in her French, would be sending SMS to each other... in French!

Anyway, what I like about these European cultural offices is that they have a lot of activities, like fiestas (parties), free concerts, weekly movies and film festivals to enhance the learning experience.

By the way, it was my classmate in Spanish, Val, who introduced me to dragon boat rowing.

I'm thinking of resuming my language classes at the Instituto in 2008.

You Know You're An 80's Kid If...

You used Lifeboy for soap and Prell for shampoo;

You drank juice from a pyramid-shaped tetra pack (Marc, whatever happened to Hi-C?);

You listened to Lionel Ritchie, Air Supply and Bon Jovi;

You wore acid-washed jeans;

You still have a BMX bike at home;

You used to own a Sony walkman;

You shed a tear for either Flor de Luna or Ana Liza;

You knew that David Hasselhoff of Baywatch is the same Hasselhoff in Knight Rider who has a talking car;

You never failed to watch Regal Shockers on Friday Nights, after Vilma;

You still have betamax, betacord and VHS tapes lying somewhere around your house;

You sang "Magkaisa" while wearing yellow shirt (the Cory Era) because your teachers forced you to;

You sided with the USA against the USSR;

You watched all Sylvester Stallone and Chuck Norris flicks;

Unprepared

Erap says Filipinos should just pray for Gloria so that her image as the most corrupt President would improve. (Gloria topped the survey, followed by Marcos and Erap). But he seemed surprised and unprepared when asked about his being the third most corrupt President in the survey :)

Encouraging

My original intention for maintaining this blog was to share my views on classical music with pop-music crazy Pinoys. I've written quite a number and obviously, I'm nowhere near achieving that lofty objective. My efforts on discussing Mahler and Rossini, for example, generated not a single comment.

In fact, reactions to my music notes have been, for the most part, unanimous and very encouraging:

John: "I skip it."

Che: "I can't pretend that I understand it."

Jong: "I feel like I have to take a quiz."

Marc: "Too much can cause indigestion."

Jun: *Quietly pulls out a handkerchief and covers his nose to stifle a nose-bleed.*

Oprah Obama

Obama now leads Hillary in the US Democratic Party Primaries, I think mainly due to Oprah's endorsement. Oprah, probably the richest woman in the US, is a force in US television; her book club influences best seller lists and her show is syndicated all over the world. When she threw her support behind Obama, the candidate suddenly overtook Hillary in the polls.

If either Obama or Hillary wins, it will be a first in US political history: a black president or a female head of state. Obviously, Oprah chose color (Obama's half-white) over gender. Whether or not she can be a power broker in the world's richest and most powerful nation, oh well, let us just sit back and watch.

Overdue Pix

From the China Races last June: Zhaoqing, Zhanjiang, Shaoguan, Canton and Nanhai. Photos courtesy of Frodo. Additional pictures "filched," I think, from John's blog :)

Not Over

A cab driver told me that the night before the Trillanes episode, a colonel and his wife who took his cab had a discussion about a planned uprising that was going to take place the following day. Which means that taking over Manila Peninsula was not a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment event at all. Why do I have this feeling that it's not yet over?

Good Enough

Since my neighborhood is near two fast food outlets, I have become a familiar face to their staff. I'm not exactly perky and cheerful so I don't really go out of my way to engage them in small talk. In other words, my PR skills need brushing up. I think some of them, uhm, find me "mysterious" as a result. I sometimes catch them saying, "here he comes," when I push open the glass doors to come in.

Two summers ago, one manager treated me out to a summer-special fast-food version of halo-halo (shaved ice with mixed fruits), and then asked for my number later. Another manager would sit at my table for a short chat while I take my meals. One staffer on a different occasion offered another free halo-halo. Another one, who I greeted because I recognized him as a swimming regular at a pool where I used to swim, paid my food bill, to my surprise. I think these are not allowed. But I was grateful for the free treats, nonetheless.

One time, as a group of nurses made their way out, one gay guy handed me a slip of paper containing some girl's name and number. A matronly lady engaged me in small conversation, expressing her astonishment at my resemblance to a chinito manager. (Oh, come on!). Still somebody dropped something on the floor obviously to get my attention. He suddenly offered a handshake and introduced himself. (hala!)

And then a call center guy I have never seen before (I wrote something about this incident last year, let me just search for it) waited for me outside. Another guy (yes, guy na naman!) followed me from his Pajero as I made my way through the main street before I made a left turn towards my neighborhood.

But the incident which still astonishes me to this day happened inside a Starbucks outlet. An attractive girl suddenly approached my table while I was talking with Johnny Bravo. She introduced herself politely and told me frankly that she, uhm, admires me. She said she knew that I jog regularly and that I live near the area. Gasp! We exchanged phone numbers and made plans to meet again but when I went to Baguio, I lost my phone. So perhaps, it wasn't meant to be.

I don't qualify as an "eye candy" by any stretch of the imagination. (The pictures speak for themselves, yah?) Don't give me that "strong-sex-appeal" line because I don't buy it for one moment, despite my fruitless attempts at putting a stop to my expanding waistline. So these incidents really surprise me.

One friend said, "you're not drop-dead gorgeous, but you look OK," which never fail to crack me up because it means "puede na" (good enough). The average-sounding "You're OK" is an explanation that's good enough for me. har har har

Forever

Before departing for Hong Kong from Canton during the China races last June, I asked our "handlers", officially known as Liaison Officers (LO's) to write something in Chinese on the page of a book I brought with me.

You see, one evening, Pam dragged me to the hotel dining area to play the piano. My cheering squad consisted of Pam and the two enthusiastic LO's.

Echo's resembled a Hallmark greeting card message: it means she "wished me happiness forever." The other one, Gloria, refused to translate the Chinese characters, saying I should have it translated in Manila.

After six months, (I almost forgot about it) I finally got somebody (a colleague of a cousin of a friend of a friend's neighbor, you know the drift) to translate her note. They both like the word "forever". Here it goes: "To the prince of piano, continue playing the piano happily. May the sound of your piano-playing stay forever."

uuuyyy

Sosyal

Trillanes is so sosyal-- he launches his mutinies from luxury hotels, the first at Oakwood (it's no longer called that) and the recent one at the Peninsula. An official pariah, he is now a bonafide member of the "So...syal we bring him?" club.

His lawyer is a total anal-retentive. He said that if his client will be served an arrest warrant, he will have to check the legality of the warrant. Duh. The nerve. The mere fact that they (1) walked out of the hearing and were consequently in direct contempt of Judge Pimentel; and (2) took over a hotel with armed military people means the mutineers were the ones committing a highly illegal and even more alarming, a dangerous act, putting people in harm's way.

I am not a big fan of Gloria, but there has to be a better way in dealing with our country's problems without resorting to drastic measures like these. People are just tired of coup d'etats. Plotters may consider changing their strategies, apparently Filipinos now have a coup d'etat-fatigue.

Misguided Missile

We have another mutiny taking place, done by the same people responsible for the Oakwood mutiny. Trillanes and company were inside a Makati RTC for a hearing regarding the Oakwood episode when they suddenly took over the place, walked out of the hearing, made a big parade along Makati Avenue while calling for President Arroyo to resign and entered and camped inside Manila Peninsula Hotel.

Just who do these people think they are? Arrest them, for crying out loud.

Landang

Last Saturday night, on her TV program Jessica Soho had an interesting feature on "sago," that pearl-size, jelly-like, chewable but starchy thing which is the better half of "gulaman." I didn't know that it was made of cassava. Thing is, growing up in Mindanao, we call the sago "landang," and landang comes from the trunk of, according to the TV report, a "sago tree" which is really just a variety of nipa, or palm tree. The sago here in Manila comes from cassava while the sago in the Southern parts comes from a palm tree. Again, just like Macopa, sago has an identity crisis, depending on which region you live.

Marc is familiar with landang, I know there's plenty of nipa in Bohol. My late grandma would always bring some to Mindanao. It's actually very good, especially for tabiraq (that's guinatan in Manila or binignit in Cebu).

Nadir's Aria

Tenor Paul Groves' stunning rendition of Nadir's aria, "Je crois entendre encore..." preceded by recitative, to Bizet's Les Pecheurs des Perles.

The tessitura is high, the notes are long, the rhythm's slow and languid, and the top notes are delivered not in forte but somewhere between piano and mezzo forte, a difficult feat to achieve especially when volume is usually needed to hit the high notes.

It's All About the Shorts

I have been planning to blog about short shorts, but Jun already beat me to it har har har. Anyway, Jun and I participated in the 10Km Animo Run at the back of the Mall of Asia wearing some of the shortest of shorts available, the running shorts. It's so short your butt could easily be exposed when you're running. It's comfortable and ideal for running but, you feel like an exhibitionist. In contrast, Andy wore knee-length shorts.

Actually, the Tagalog slang for running shorts when translated into English, means "vagina shorts." How the running shorts came to resemble the female reproductive organ I don't know. Maybe it's so short you can almost take a peek at the... Jun's turned out to be even shorter and-- gasp! tighter-- than mine, although prudence dictated that he wear black trunks underneath. Apparently, this was the result of his "costume rehearsal" the night before the race. I couldn't keep myself from laughing, even by just thinking about it.

So for the Subic Race this January....ahahaha.

Mozart: Mitridate, Re di Ponto

Natalie Dessay (soprano) and Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo-soprano) throwing coloraturas at each other like articles of weaponry in Mozart's Mitridate, Re di Ponto.

Hong Kong Pix

Met up with Johnny Bravo over dinner and coffee. Haven't seen him for quite some time. It's always like this: starting November, dinner, lunch and coffee invitations pour in, spilling over towards December.

He took the following pix when he went to Hong Kong last September. Really good, isn't it? He's a practicing nurse and an aspiring photographer.

Song List

I think it was Marc who complained that while reviewing for the CPA exams, he had a neighbor who kept on singing April Boy Regino's latest hits in his videoke/karaoke machine (There was no Magic Sing yet). Imagine having April Boy's music playing in your mind while taking the board exams.

My landlady likes to belt out "Si Aida, Si Lorna at si Fe," and "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" at least twice a week. Even Panda and Polar stay away and hide somewhere else when she tries to impress her neighbors with her vocal exhibition.

Which brings me to my list of some of the most awful songs composed in this planet. Considering that my knowledge of pop music is relatively limited, my list is, well, not exhaustive.

We begin with,

OCEAN DEEP: I know a lot of you folks like this, but I don't. Why not sea deep?

SHAKE YOUR BON BON: I'm not sure exactly if this is the correct title. Although screaming girls and gays would ogle and drool over Ricky Martin while he is performing this number, I'm sure a lot of them would prefer to ogle and drool over him with their hands covering their ears.

UNO, DOS, TRES...etc: Again, another hideous Ricky Martin fast latin number. I'm wary of songs that start with counting numbers (like 5,6,7,8) because it's like you're being forced to do aerobics even if you don't want to.

KNIFE: "Knife, cuts like a knife/I'm so dee-eeeplee woun-ded, knife" I don't even know where to begin. Hand me the knife please.

McARTHUR PARK: The classic non-sense lyrics: "I left the cake out in the rain, and it took so long to bake it, and I'll never have that recipe again," let's all do this together, ready, "Oh nooooo!"

And the worst, ever:

DON'T BREAK MY HEART, MY ACHY-BREAKY HEART: Wow, really. I'm speechless. The composer should be charged with a crime against humanity.

Common Block

Ten South-East Asian nations agreed to form an economic block by 2015, European Union-style sans the common currency with the signing of the Charter earlier this week. With a population roughly the same as Europe's, it is clearly aimed at countering the growing economic might of both China and India, with more than a billion people each.

Singapore is very aggressive in pushing for the Charter, not only because it holds the rotation presidency, but as a hub of financial services and transport, it benefits tremendously from seamless trade activities in the region.

There is a wide economic disparity among member-countries, with Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei on the top end of the spectrum; Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and now, Vietnam straddling the middle-level; and Laos, Burma and Cambodia on the lower end. How to bridge this gap and allow the benefits of free trade to filter down to the less-developed economies is clearly a big challenge.

Political structures also vary: only Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines seems to fall under democratic governments, as the rest adopts (1) a one-party system such as the communist states in French Indo-China, (2) ruled by a military junta (Burma and Thailand), (3) an absolute monarchy (Brunei) or simply, (4) a democratic police-state like Singapore.

No wonder then, political considerations take a back seat. The issue of Burma's crackdown on pro-democracy dissidents has been sidestepped and the association has treated it with kid gloves. Thailand, in particular, is sensitive considering that a huge portion of its gas requirements are sourced from Burma.

Unfortunately, ASEAN's credibility has been assailed precisely because of inaction in influencing events in Burma.

But I think the more important agenda has always been the signing of the Charter, to give the proposed economic bloc a legal entity for the long-term, if the whole region were to break away from the tentacles of China and India.

What to do with Burma within the ASEAN will remain an open question, probably in the same way that Turkey's inclusion in the European Union remains a big issue among Europeans.

Golden Prospects

The mining sector's prospects really look bright. Gold prices are currently at around US$850/oz. and might be heading towards US$1,000 in the medium-term. Again, the continued weakness of the dollar, oil-induced higher inflation (US$100/barrel) and low interest rates and you have investors pouring their funds into gold.

O.R.

I met up with Jane Austen, a former office colleague who had turned her back on Credit Investigation, shifted careers in mid-life and is now a Registered Nurse, over coffee.

And barely a month after my entry on Fat Variations, she predictably said, "Lester..." some people still call me by my first name, "...you look OK, but I can see your prominent belly from afar," thank you Mademoiselle, you are so nice.

"Oh, it's because I have stopped attending dragon boat training," I attempted to provide an explanation.

"...and your scalp, I can clearly see it from here..." she pointed it out, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's just the hair cut, and the gel I'm using," I lied, I didn't use any.

"Your skin is still fair, although a shade darker," Am I signing up for a porn movie, I wanted to ask her.

Jane Austen has this unequaled ability in saying the most unflattering comments in the most polite and serious manner. It's different if say, Che or John were saying these things, because I know it was done in the spirit of levity, and we're simply going to have a good laugh in the end. But with her, she delivers her lines with the severity of a dreaded disease. Which makes it devastating.

Anyway, she wanted to ask my advice about sterilization procedures inside an operating room- she's currently doing a research on it. Why she thinks I know anything about what goes on inside an operating room is beyond me.

Sometimes, people really overrate me, not that I mind, though. She reminded me of Chelo, another office colleague who called me up very early one morning to ask for my help about her assigned MBA case study. And then there's Shaq, who asked me if I have a study on carbon dioxide. "The whaaat?" "You know, CO2 gas." He works for a gas supplier.

Jane Austen and I ended up talking about the Nursing Industry and her prospects for working abroad.

Milestone

For the first time ever, I completed my reports way ahead of schedule. Although I had to start working at 4 a.m. three days in a row, my efforts paid off. I do like working before sunrise. It is quiet and you can concentrate on your task without interruption.

Anyway, I'm writing this using my cellphone as my laptop's modem. Not bad. So Marc, even if we happen to be somewhere in the hinterlands with no internet, as long as there is a network signal, we can still access the internet. With speeds up to 450 kbps, and at only PhP20 an hour, it's a pretty cool deal.

Bruch: Violin Concerto

Kim Hwa Chung with the London Symphony under Andre Previn performing the 1st movement to Max Bruch's Violin Concerto.

Heart Burn

When you feel your heart beating faster and in unison with another even for just a fleeting moment, when a single smile would be enough to get you through an entire day, when the most ungrammatical comment suddenly becomes poetry, when a childish prank becomes adorable, when images always get framed in your mind and remain in mint condition long afterwards, when you want to possess and even invade someone else's body and soul for all eternity, you know you are in love. Five years ago, probably around this time-- seriously, I fell in love.

It was a different feeling. Because when the other party starts to reciprocate and seeks not only companionship but intimacy as well, then you know what it is like to have really lived.

But it didn't last.

The break-up was painful. It took me quite some time to recover. I badgered a close friend with frantic messages in the wee hours of the morning, not so much as to seek comfort and advice, but mainly to tell me that it is not the end of the world. Unlike physical pain which goes away eventually, the pain you experience lingers, gnaws, throws imaginary punches until you tear yourself apart. I fully understand why some people take really drastic measures, maybe they simply gave in and called it quits.

But then again, this thing called love which causes so much pain and desperation, is also life-affirming and transcendental: it enabled Madeleine de Croissy to rise above her desperate situation following the murder of her mother and the burning of her house during the French Revolution; it caused Princess Turandot to overcome her hatred of men despite her life-long vow to avenge the rape of an ancestress; it allowed Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde, Heathcliff and Catherine, Radames and Aida-- all literary and musical figures, yes-- to remain together despite the insurmountable odds. It was their love that binded them together until the very last breath.

Florentino Ariza's unrequited love for Fermina Daza survived more than half a century. He never threw in the towel. When the opportunity presented itself, he proposed again.

And like him, I too will not stop: when an opportunity presents itself, I will do so again.

Spacing Out

I have a staggered deadline starting this morning until Friday. I'm supposed to be writing about syringes and vials, but my head is totally empty right now. I woke up at 4 a.m., finished my calculations by 8 a.m., so I guess I need a break right?

Will start writing my reports later, when I feel like it. Ya know, when the "light bulb" finally pops up and I'm supposed to say "Eureka!"

Macopa

My neighbor has a tambis tree. I will search for the scientific name later, promise. Anyway, I got into a long-standing debate with a friend who said that the tree is actually a macopa. I said that no, that is tambis. He insists it is macopa. But macopa, I told him, has a maroon color, almost like an apple's, with a white flesh when you bite into it, and is generally sweeter. Tambis, on the other hand, has a paler pink color, is watery when you bite into it, and not as sweet. But that's not macopa, that's mabolo, he said. No, it is macopa, I have never heard of mabolo before.

It seems, therefore, that this is a classic case of us, Cebuanos versus them, Tagalogs. But Jun and Jen, when we were in Iloilo took the view that what I call macopa is in fact, mabolo.

This is getting crazy. Marc, what do you think? Is macopa commonly available in Bohol?

And so, will the real macopa please stand up?

Long Runs

Without any warm-up and practice whatsoever, I joined the New Balance Power Race held in Clark Field Pampanga over the week-end. Jun, Andy and their labmates survived and came out alive from the 25 km run-- Imagine running non-stop for three hours!-- while I settled for the 10 Km run. I still can't decide whether I will participate in the 21 Km in Subic come January.

Our motivation for joining long runs isn't really the personal-triumph/bucking-all-odds variety, we just want to trim the lard off our bodies.

We all stayed in a hotel located in the red light district. We tried to smell the sheets to look for signs of... hahaha

My legs still hurt hmmmm.

Currency Woes Ad Infinitum

US dollar exchange rate now at PhP42.90. And it's only November. When December kicks in-- Dios mio!-- this is just too much.

The BSP says it intervenes in the market only if there are drastic movements in the exchange rate.

"Pick Up" Material

Sitting on one side of the river banks, observing the mini-carnival taking place on the other, occasionally throwing pebbles at the ugly janitor fish gnawing its sharp teeth on the flotsam and jetsam and those things floating belly up making their way downstream (think piranha but with armor scales), I stood up from my favorite spot holding a book, made my way down the bridge towards the other side of the river, climbed a flight of concrete stairs leading up to a row of coffee and thrift shops and entered a coffee shop slash beer house.

A quick side glance reveals the true state of affairs: somebody has been following me, making furtive glances, trying to catch my attention with subtle signals. I saw him taking a table not far from mine, tapping his fingers on the table, obviously trying to prod me into some sort of a reply to his gestures.

He looks fortyish, mestizo-looking, in the mold of Jaza and taller than I am, I told myself I'd smash his head on the pavement if he ever mistakes me for those guys cruising for a quick fix.

He moved closer, table by table, until sitting close next to me, he picked up a newspaper, pretended to read, and casually bumped my arm against his, making it appear that he didn't mean it. Duh. Señor, I'm not into this sort of thing, sorry. Can you please be more direct and introduce yourself properly if you really want to make my acquaintance?

I knew what he was looking for, so I simply stood up, left the place and went home.

Lady of Leisure

I met up with Che earlier this evening and had dinner at...Minute Burger!

Joke...We had dinner at Italianni's.

She said she reads this blog regularly but skips my entries on classical music because, "I can't pretend to understand it, because I really don't."

"You can't expect me to be looking up the meaning of those musical terms every time," she went on.

But Che, I have added automatic snap shots for artist and composer backgrounds from Wikipedia, meaning to say you only point your mouse over the link and a short definition pops up.

In addition, I mean to keep very simple and self-explanatory terms like fortissimo, fiotura, tessitura, allegro con moto, diminuendo and other musical expressions in standard Italian because I like it that way :)

Anyway, she said she just bought a piece of real estate. In other words, she's now on her way to becoming a "lady of leisure."

Moment de Grâce

Claudio ABBADO dirige la 5e Symphonie de MAHLER à Lucerne (2004)

4e Mouvement – Adagietto.

Trademark Mahler sound: Tender and delicate yet warm and voluptuous.

Wish List Year 2 Part 1

Last year, I came up with my wish list for Christmas. As expected, I ended up buying some of the stuff anyway (Marc, pay attention... :)

Mes amis, in addition to that list are some book titles you may want to consider giving me:

*grabeh Ron, you're soooo....uhm kapal! But hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. The fall of the dollar is pushing me down the road to poverty.*

Fiction by David Sedaris ("Barrel Fever", "Naked", "Me Talk Pretty One Day"); Flannery O'Connor and Gabriel Garcia Marquez (except "One Hundred Years..." and "Amor en el Tiempo del Colera"- I already have those);

Penguin Classic edition of the new English translation of Rizal's "Noli Me Tangere";

"History of Christianity" by Paul Johnson- explores the rise of the Christian church from a purely socio-political and historical context, rather than from a polemical and theological standpoint;

"All The Pope's Men", Paul Allen's fascinating account of the selection process of the new Pope. I just read his book about the Opus Dei;

And perhaps, a comprehensive guide to opera and symphonies.

Miffed

Pervez Musharaf has declared a State of Emergency, or Martial Law, I guess, in Pakistan. He is holding on to dear life as it is clear his grip on power is loosening up, especially with the return of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto from a self-imposed exile and Washington's support of the former leader.

I think Musharaf feels that's he's been made and played like a pawn in the US' so-called fight against terrorism. He is a key US ally and Pakistan has been instrumental in keeping a tight lid on militant jihadists ready to blow themselves up. In an interview with the BBC, he decried the fact that other nations, particularly the US, didn't keep their end of the bargain. He claimed he has yet to see a single cent from the development aid promised in exchange for his cooperation with the Americans.

And with Washington suddenly cozying up with Bhutto when his political chances seem untenable, this drastic move allows him to at least hold on to power a little bit longer and deliberately annoy the Americans.

Best Policy

A couple of years ago, Johnny Bravo once asked me when my birthday was. I didn't take his question seriously so I gave him a different date.

I totally forgot about it until the eve of my supposed birthday, when he drove over to my house with a birthday cake he baked himself complete with candles.

I was waiting for a lightning bolt to strike me. I could have melted faster than the candles. I was supposed to coo and say something like,"Ooooh, you shouldn't haaave," but I was racked with guilt for lying.

So what's the moral of the story? Honesty, as grade school walls proudly proclaim, is the best policy.

Chaka

In college, one gayish groupmate in a management class kept referring to a generic/unbranded product item I was scheduled to do a presentation on, as "chaka." Chaka in Tagalog gay-speak, means "ugly". I honestly didn't know what it means.

And so when my turn came, I went in front of the class and discussed why our hypothetical company should change the brand name from CHAKA to something else. Uhm yah, I thought it was a brand name! It never occurred to me that it was an adjective.

I couldn't even begin to describe the look on my groupmate's face upon hearing this: it's the same look you have when you're suffering from constipation or a really bad case of dyspepsia.

ROSSINI: Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)

Opera in 3 Acts
Music by Gioacchino Antonio ROSSINI
Libretto in Italian by Cesare Sterbini
First performance, Rome 1816

Hermann Prey, Luigi Alva, Teresa Berganza
Claudio Abaddo, Teatro alla Scala di Milano
Orchestra and Chorus
Production by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Along with Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Verdi's La Traviata, Rossini's Barbiere is among the most popular opera in the Italian repertoire. And like the two, it had a resounding failure on opening night on account of a competing opera of the same name by the irascible and well-established Giovanni Paisiello, whose supporters set up a din of shouting and cat-calls during the premiere.

Il Barbiere is easily Rossini's best opera: the action is fast-paced, the story charming, and it is full of big arias and ensemble numbers. In addition, as the representative opera of the bel canto tradition, it is among the most difficult. The major roles of the Barber (Figaro), Count Almamiva and Rosina are sought-after by the most accomplished opera singers.

The story is simple enough: Count Almaviva disguises himself as a commoner, with Figaro's help, to court and win over Rosina who is held under tight watch by Dr. Bartolo, her guardian who wants to marry her.

Arias:

"Una voce poco fa..."

"Largo al factotum..."

"Dunque io son..."

Luigi Alva as the Count has a ringing top although he struggles with the fast coloraturas, Hermann Prey is excellent, even the character of Bartolo, essayed wonderfully by Enzo Dara, who had to sing probably the fastest bass aria ever, and of course Teresa Berganza who acquits herself very well as the charming Rosina. Rossini wrote the role for a mezzo, but is so popular even sopranos like Callas, Gruberova and Battle like to star in the role so much, although it is Berganza's which is the definitive interpretation.

In the Figaro-Rosina duet in the Second Act, Berganza once said the duet used to frighten her: the dynamics change from fortissimo to pianissimo and the phrasing from legato to staccato in seconds, while the vocal line changes from stately one moment to dancing on pointe the next. In this production, her effortless coloraturas almost steal the limelight away from Almamiva and Figaro.

The Figaro-Rosina-Almamiva trio at the close of the final act is also priceless, with a coloratura in thirds between Rosina and Almaviva!

This is a highly-entertaining reading of Rossini's masterpiece. Abbado used the original instrumentation and Rosina's role has been given over to a mezzo. The whole ensemble remained faithful to the score. Highly recommended.

Balancing Out

Ok, with oil prices hitting US$95 per barrel, this will likely create a domino effect on the prices of other consumer goods and services.

But the peso has gained considerable strength as well which should mitigate the negative impact of the rise in global oil prices.

I once read an excellent undergraduate economics thesis which found that oil companies actually implement price rises far too quickly than roll-backs.

Is there even a sensitivity analysis available? Ya know, say for every PhP0.10 cent appreciation of the peso, local oil prices should be rolled-back by how much? or for every US$1 increase in oil prices per barrel, what is the impact on local oil prices?

DVD Medley

You know you're watching pirated DVD when the audio doesn't seem to be in sync with the images on screen.

I watched the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 by an all-Russian orchestra and soloist and -*gulp*- the piano already sounded when the soloist hasn't even started to touch the keys yet.

Which reminded me of that longish bus ride from Zhanjiang to Shaoguan, wherein watching a DVD inside the moving bus turned out to be a coma-inducing experience. The DVD consisted of truncated parts of two different movies, played over and over again until I somehow lost consciousness.

Old Ties

Part of a text message exchange with my friend Estela went on like this:

Este: "We should meet up. I need to touch base with old friends. Feel old and tired."

Me: "There you go again, with your depressing mood swings."

Este: "I can't help it. Circumstances in my life are really depressing."

Me: "Then watch 'The Sound of Music', Oprah or read Kahlil Gibran."

Este: "I was the Drama Guild President you know, which makes me a drama queen for life!" *^&%$@#&

Me: "I was the Rondalla club Veep, so let's color your gloom with bright sounds."

*now start imagining that you're listening to rondalla music, preferably "Mabuhay"*

And then she called me up and we made plans to meet up when she gets back from the highlands.

Requiem from Sarajevo

Requiem in D Minor

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART

Jose Carreras, Ruggiero Raimondi, Cecilia Gasdia, Ildiko Komlosi

Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra
Sarajevo Cathedral Choir
conducted by Zubin Mehta

Under the aegis of the UN High Commission for Refugees, this concert took place in the rubble-strewn, bombed-out National Library building in Sarajevo in present-day Bosnia-Herzegovna, formerly part of Yugoslavia.

The break-up of Yugoslavia in the nineties set the stage for the war in the Balkans along ethnic lines that led to the creation of three independent states: Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia. And as everybody knows, Bosnia suffered some of the worst destruction and atrocities.

The concert here is more symbolic rather than artistic. It is not fair to evaluate the performance on technical merits alone. To begin with, the players may have been playing on borrowed instruments; practice venues were probably non-existent; the chorus and orchestra members, still reeling from the aftermath of the war and who may have spent some time in bomb shelters, were clearly assembled from among the ranks of those who fortunately survived the war.

This is a city that is putting a brave face to the world and making a big statement about the war. By performing Mozart's final masterpiece, the Requiem in D Minor which he composed for his own impending death, the city is appealing for deliverance from the ravages of war.

The concert is interspersed with images of burning buildings, ordinary citizens caught in the cross-fire and running for their lives, and the wondering faces of children who have been robbed of their innocence so early in life.

The National Library is virtually in ruins, and it is from these ruins and ashes that the city wishes to rebuild itself.

Palliative

The consensus is that the Fed will likely cut interest rates anew. I don't really think this is something to cheer about, because the previous rate cut, which was bigger-than-expected, proved to be a palliative, rather than a cure to the sub-prime crisis. The additional rate cut only means the US economy is in deeper trouble.

And what seems to be an anomaly here is that it is the low-interest rate scenario that may have started the sub-prime mortgage to burst to begin with. Clearly, the Fed's intervention is meant to preempt any signs of recession.

By the way, I think the peso is already over-valued. When exporters and OFW families start getting hurt, you know that the optimal point has been reached. Unfortunately, the last quarter is seasonally the time when the currency is at its strongest.

Sights and Sounds

I spent the week-end with Jun and Jenny soaking in the warm spring waters of Pansol in Los Baños, Laguna and gatecrashing (well, sort of) the birthday dinner of Val's sister in their home inside UP Los Baños.

I played the piano (it's the same German brand we have at home in Bohol) which I think, got us invited consequently by Val's mom to lunch the following day :) Also, Val and her sister drove us around for a tour of the huge camping and park grounds.

Back in Manila, Jun and I watched the Victory Concert of the Philippine Madrigal Singers at the CCP. What can I say, except that the Madz has proven once again that the group is the yardstick, the gold standard, by which every choral group will be measured against.

It's a good thing that over-performed Theme from the Lion King has been removed from the repertoire.

Paralyzed

It's as if the world came crashing down my feet the moment those deep, penetrating eyes were fixed on me. I have always maintained a facade of being calm and level-headed, but beneath the placid exterior lurks a boiling, panic-stricken, swooning--can you even put these descriptions together?--composure. And when those x-ray gazes zero in on my hidden vulnerabilities, probing my deeply-felt emotions and cross-examining my motives, all my defenses seem to have given way.

I have been unable to mount a counter-offensive, paralyzed by an unforeseen and inexplicable force. It's as if a tornado blasted its way through, uprooting everything in its path, changing the landscape, forever.

Executive Pardon

What did I tell you, Erap's been granted an Executive Clemency by the President. But with strings attached, such as not seeking the highest political office.

Again, this move has been widely expected, it was simply a question of when. Considering that the administration is mired in bribery scandals, the pardon is a good way to win beauty points with the masses.

Irresponsible

If the Glorietta blast was really caused by plumbing mismanagement (police investigators claim they found no crater, no bomb parts or residue), then we can add this sorry incident to one of ABS-CBN's lowest moments.

Obviously, Korina Sanchez's brand of journalism has infected its news reporting team.

Without any proof whatsoever, Maria Ressa disclosed in an interview after the incident that the only groups capable of carrying out the blasts were either the "Jeemayah Islamiyah or law enforcement," effectively casting a dark cloud over Gloria herself.

How irresponsible.

The probability that it might just be an accident was simply relegated to the sidelines. The station even interviewed people from the UP Chemical Engineering department to discredit the police's story. Problem is, everybody's simply speculating, yah? And pushing the terrorist angle seems the only way out for this news team that has pushed itself into a hole.

Hello Kitty

I once gave Che a Hello Kitty keychain for Christmas (or was it your birthday, Che?) and immediately, she complained, "Ron, this is fake."

"It's genuine," I insisted, of course.

"Who has ever heard of a yellow Hello Kitty," she protested.

Feigning ignorance, I said, "Doesn't she come in different colors?" I thought Hello Kitty was like a cousin of Rainbow Brite.

"Naaawh."

Which reminds me of my office colleague Chelo. She used to complain that people mistake her for wearing fake branded logos when in fact, she really splurged on the real thing.

"Maybe you don't have that X factor," I'd tell her and she'd simply blurt out a guffaw in response.

I'm not really sure if the two proceedings are related.

Oars Up

Dragon boat videos courtesy of Joyce and uploaded by Ay-ris.

China 2007

TVC

Mind-boggling

I don't really understand why many people would set their watches 15-30 minutes in advance. So if you ask them what time it is, they'd look at their watches and perform some mental subtraction before telling you the correct time. Why?

Why don't they just set it to the correct time, and spare themselves the subtraction effort?

Isn't it that the point of wearing a watch is to remind you of the correct time? It defeats that purpose when you deliberately set it to an incorrect time, isn't it?

You may file this under Ron's Pointless Ramblings or Anecdotes of the Non-sense Kind. :)

Aftermath

Jun and I dropped by Glorietta Mall last Sunday after the early morning New Balance Run for a Cause at the Rockwell Centre, to see for ourselves the extent of the damage caused by the deadly blast last Friday.

I don't understand the hasty decision of the management to keep areas of the mall not affected by the blast open. Really now, is management trying to minimize the losses arising from the incident? Shouldn't the mall just open until after a thorough security check and a conclusive investigation?

Heating Up

Last week, oil prices touched US$90 per barrel and this volatility will likely continue as tensions in oil-rich Northern Iraq over Turkey's determination to retaliate against Kurdish rebels remain.

With the US housing slump on account of the sub-prime mortgage market imploding and dragging over-all US growth, associated credit risks spread out across the globe are still playing out and the extent of the losses are still being assessed.

With the Glorietta blast last Friday aggravating the situation, stocks predictably nose-dived although the peso has somewhat recovered. I'm pretty sure the Central Bank intervened to calm the markets.

However, I think the peso will likely strengthen further with the onset of the holiday season.

Minority

In high school, pop music ruled the airwaves. I seriously couldn't find anybody who shared my growing enthusiasm for classical music and what people call 'standards', you know, the Broadway kind.

And then one time, a hastily-prepared program required somebody to sing without prior notice, right then and there. One girl I knew who was taking voice lessons with her aunt, came up on stage and sang in a capella, "Amor, amor, amor."

It seemed like, except for the older teachers, nobody had ever heard of her piece, which was in Spanish. Weaned on Jose Mari Chan, Francis Magalona, New Kids on the Block and Tiffany, the audience didn't know what to make of her performance. It was as if E.T. had just been found in the middle of the plaza.

When she finished singing, nobody clapped. (I'm not kidding).

DVD

I bought a new DVD player over the week-end. Do not, for a moment, expect the unit to be state-of-the-art, portable or sleek. It's not. Anyway, I was only interested in the basic features, so I settled for a made-in-China brand you'd normally find in electronic shops in Quiapo.

I entered one appliance shop specializing in China-made TVs, DVDs and videoke machines somewhere in Cubao. The prices were dirt-cheap, almost a steal, so I picked one and asked the keeper to "demonstrate" the features to me.

It turned out the buying experience proved to be more interesting than the unit itself. Immediately, using the remote control, the player refused to open the disc tray. Curiously, the disc trays of the other DVD products on display were the ones that responded to the remote control.

And so I chose another unit with a functioning disc tray, but which, for crying out loud, wouldn't play the sample DVD disc.

I chose another fully-functioning unit with a variety of features I didn't expect from a really cheap unit.

At home, I read the English manual to complete the set-up. I had to tear it into pieces. Yes it was in English, but I couldn't understand it. It's like those machine-generated translations from Babelfish that make no sense whatsoever.

Anyway, I managed to set up and connect the wires to the correct ports, without any explosion (in Macau, I simply turned on the electrical fan in some dingy hotel room and immediately, something exploded). Hey, the signs were in Chinese.

Finally, I was able to watch the documentary on Cecilia Bartoli and the Mozart Violin Sonatas I bought in Quiapo which my DVD drive cannot read. Not bad.

Morning Visit

I woke up one morning with this text message from Frodo: "Look outside your window."

True enough, he was standing outside the gate bearing a DVD copy of our dragon boat China trip last June.

Since my DVD drive, for some reason, doesn't play back the copy, we had breakfast instead at the nearby McDonald's.

"I'm a new person." Really. "I've started going to the gym, in place of rowing. And I'm into wake-boarding as well."

I thought he was still active in rowing. I haven't seen him for quite some time.

And then he sort of dropped a bomb: "My wife's pregnant."

Aware that he already has three kids, I said, "Oh my God."

I was supposed to say Congratulations, unfortunately that didn't come out of my lips.

Trip Down Memory Lane

In a small place where I grew up, almost everybody knows everybody else. In the eighties when the country was mired in political turmoil, we were sort of shielded from the maelstrom brewing in Manila and the big cities, tucked away in our corner in the Bukidnon plateau. The company where my father worked during those times dominated the pineapple global export market. Thus, corporate financial stability provided families working for the company a semblance of security during those troubled times. Not exactly Amish-like, but more like those German immigrants deep in the mountains of Venezuela.

I don't know how it is nowadays, but I always thought we were the lucky ones. We had our own hospital, dairy farm, schools, school buses to pick us up. We were even living in company-owned housing communities, with its own security force.

Since PLDT did not have a presence in the area, we had our own operator-assisted telephone system wherein if you pick up the phone, you speak directly to the operator to transfer your call. There were no assigned phone numbers. Also, in determining which call goes to who, we were assigned various combinations of short and long rings (such as beep beep beeeeep, beeeep). In fact, once the telephone starts ringing, everybody else in the whole neighborhood, or perhaps the entire community, would be paying attention should their assigned rings play out.

My family left Bukidnon for Bohol in the mid-nineties. I often wonder about what has happened to the place since then. Last time I was there, my grade school got bigger, and the Church now resembles a huge warehouse. I think the population has grown bigger as well.

Maybe next year, I'll probably visit Bukidnon. I haven't been there in like, ten years.

Web Tools

Good thing slide.com is back. I guess the site is experiencing a surge in traffic.

As I have mentioned before, when Blogger went out of beta mode and introduced widget-friendly settings, this development naturally led to an explosion of customized blogs featuring not just your usual text-and-pix content but mini programs, videos, interactive games, site stats, weather reports, RSS feeds, satellite maps, slide shows, and mp3 background music as well.

I started blogging when Blogger expected users to be at least a little familiar with HTML. I have zero experience with Web languages and I am as dependent on the mouse as the next Joe. I still can't memorize correctly the damn HREF link code. Currently, it is quite possible to have zero knowledge of both HTML or XML and still come up with a pretty decent personal site.

Anyway, I like Slide because with my cascading pictures in the sidebar, it makes amateurs like me appear computer-savvy.

Snapshot is very convenient as well, since it allows you to remain on the page while viewing the contents of your link on a snapshot window, including slide show pictures from Picasa, and videos from Youtube and Veoh.

For videos, I rely on Youtube, Dailymotion and Veoh. Youtube's video playing time is limited to only 10 minutes maximum. Dailymotion, a French video-sharing portal, has better video quality, longer playing time although it still has a limited number of videos for the classical repertoire. For animes, cartoons, TV series and full movies at virtually unlimited playing time, Veoh tops my list, although Boxsweeper, which allows you to download full movies as well, comes in at a close second. Veoh is what you call an online video and Internet TV browser rolled into one.

For widgets, go to Widgetbox, it has a bewildering variety of widgets for your blog which can be customized not only to Blogger but other personal sites such as Facebook, Livejournal, even Friendster. Oh by the way, I think I'm one of the very few people, at least among my friends and colleagues, who do not have a Friendster account.

For webcams, video conferencing and plain VoIP calls, I use Skype, which is based (I think) in Luxembourg. It's free and the quality's good, although sometimes there are "rough patches" in the reception, but overall you can talk to anybody in the world for free.

MAD TV Fan

Jack TV keeps on showing MAD TV reruns, and the show disappeared from its usual noontime and prime time slots. I hope the station starts programming new season episodes soon.

MAD TV: Steroids

Beach-starved

Having spent the better part of my growing-up years in the Bukidnon highlands, hilly but cool and pine-crested, I was literally starved for the beach. And so were the rest of the neighborhood kids. You see, trips to coastal areas were pretty seldom for us who lived in a land-locked plateau surrounded by mountains.

In fact, on trips to the city, after passing through the steep and winding highway snaking down Carmen hill upon entering the city, we'd be clapping our hands in excitement, complete with oohs and aaahs, each time the cobalt color of the sea comes into view. It triggers immediate memories of frolicking and swimming in the beach during the annual company-sponsored summer picnics.

Having lived in the city for quite some time with Manila Bay only half an hour away (more depending on the traffic), I now feel the exact opposite about living near the coast.

Land of the Pharaohs

My royal friend the Prince of Persia backpacking in the Middle East. I had to share this pix to other people who, like me, have never set foot, and probably never will, in these hallowed grounds.

Luxor

Aswan

Edfu and Komombo

AbuSimbel And Temple Of Isis In Philae

Pyramids of Egypt

Masiao

Masiao in the 80's was a highly-popular illegal numbers game in the Visayas and Mindanao area, sort of like present-day Jueteng. I'm not familiar with jueteng but masiao required betting on the following day's results of Jai Alai games that were played in Manila. If I'm not mistaken, jai alai originated from the Basque region.

Jai alai players were "imported" Spanish players from the Basque region, Cataluña and the rest of España.

A whole industry revolved around jai alai-based masiao, employing thousands, from the "financiers", "collectors" and the "runners."

The system was a bit sophisticated, if you ask me, because bets were in the form of "units". Very much like buying shares in the stock market, you get a big share of the prize money the bigger your bets.

You can also buy those "leaflets" containing statistics of players' performances, as well as "tips," strategies and those strange shapes and figures, which were supposed to hide the winning numbers. I couldn't really understand how they could give out tips, because it only means those who published these leaflets already knew the results beforehand, right?

Anyway, kids like me would easily blow our allowances betting numbers divined from dreams, shapes of flowers, cloud formations, and even from inspecting the underbelly of spiders.

One cousin claimed she got the winning number in her sleep and proof of this was the pair of gold earrings dangling from her ears.

We were impressed.

It was so popular I sometimes skipped recess in order to have money for masiao. I never won anything.

And so I stopped.

Puccini's Tosca

Puccini's operas are emotionally draining. Here's the aria, "Vissi d'arte..." from Tosca, powerfully interpreted by Angela Gheorghiu. You can hear the despair in her voice. In the aria, she demands to know from God why she is being made to suffer terribly.

Export Woes

Exports for the month of August fell 4.8% y-o-y compared to last year's, surprising many people, although 8m07 still showed a 4.3% growth over the same period last year.

Why should it be a surprise, the unabated strength of the peso is clearly affecting the export sector's competitiveness. It is something that should be expected.

Are we looking at the peso soaring towards the PhP43 territory?

Ceasefire

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Not The Same

And so you wonder (I know you do), "What has Ron got to say about the Jon Stewart episode wherein a satirical piece about women leaders showed the picture of Cory Aquino scrawled with the word "Slut" in it."

Also, "What's the difference between this Jon Stewart skit and that Desperate Housewives episode?"

Since I watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Jack TV after lunch, here's my take on the matter:

The Daily Show is clearly satirical, which means the show delivers their messages through irony and satire.

So when Cory is called a slut, it really means it's the other way around: I mean, who in his or her right mind would ever paint Cory as slutty, to begin with.

What it means is that women leaders have simply been pigeon-holed into stereotypes (e.g., only good in bed, among others) and that women candidates' chances at being elected to the highest political offices may be hindered as a result.

At least, that's how I understood it.

As for the Desperate Housewives episode, I didn't think it was tongue-in-cheek, ironic or satirical at all. In other words, it wasn't funny. It was delivered as if it were something that the viewers should be careful as well.

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D

Itzhak Perlman setting the stage on fire with his rendition of the finale marked Allegro Vivacissimo to Tchaikovsky's fiery Violin Concerto in D, with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Flaw_less

Last summer, I stepped outside my gate to my next-door neighbor's mini variety store wearing nothing but my boxer shorts.

Typical of any Filipino neighborhood, a small crowd gathered in the small benches exchanging pleasantries and gossip.

As I handed over my payment to the keeper, however, a "special child" sitting nearby promptly went behind me and- gasp! - pulled down my boxers, exposing my butt for all the world to see.

I didn't actually pull up my boxers immediately, I took my time. I mean, I have been active outdoors so I was tanned and, like Rosanna Roces in the nineties, flawless.....JOKE!

What was I supposed to do, die of shame?

Racial Slur

Many Americans feel bewildered at finding an almost-unanimous reaction from Filipinos regarding the Desperate Housewives episode wherein Terri Hatcher's character made a derogatory comment about medical degrees obtained from schools in the Philippines.

They say it is a joke, and shouldn't be taken seriously.

I don' think so, because it is comments like these that perpetuate a stereotype that is hardly fair and which manifests itself in supposedly funny jokes. Xenophobic perceptions like these, whether tongue-in-cheek or not, shouldn't be allowed to pass in a supposedly mature democratic society like the US.

If we make a joke about 9-11, do you think Americans will find it funny?

Exactly.

I know it's like comparing lemons and oranges. But my point is, a line has to be drawn somewhere. After all, we live in politically-correct times.

Americans don't get it. They feel they can get away with everything, including insulting every other nation on earth by passing it off as a joke.

If they start behaving and thinking like they're not the only people on this planet, probably they'd understand this point clearly.

Returning the Favor

I think I know why Enrique Razon of port operator ICTSI got involved in the ZTE mess: his latest port operations now include one in Shandong province in China.

He may have gotten this deal in exchange for you know, a similar deal for a Chinese firm to expand its operations in the Philippines.

I read somewhere that Gloria initially raised objections to the broadband network project. What made her make a 180 degree turn is obvious: she helped Razon snatch the deal in China. In exchange, Gloria and Razon had to return the favor and facilitate the Chinese company's getting the deal for the broadband network. That is why suddenly, you have Gloria pushing for the deal despite widespread objections ("media attacks," according to her).

Problem was that this project made no economic sense whatsoever.

To appease the Chinese, I think Gloria and Razon will be hard-pressed to come up with another project that will benefit another hand-picked company of the Chinese government.

You can be sure that this time around, it will be more carefully prepared.

(Marc, analysts and economists love to speculate).

Baroque Break

Little-known gems from the 17th-18th century composers like Caccini and Vivaldi are being rediscovered thanks to musicians like Cecilia Bartoli.

Here she interprets Vivaldi's "Sposa son disprezzata" from the opera, "Bajazet."

A Polish duo performing Caccini's Ave Maria with Ewa Iżykowska, soprano and Jerzy Maciejews on the piano.

Variations on a Fat Theme

For many westerners, it is impolite to comment about somebody's weight. "Oh my, you've gained weight," will cost you friends.

Filipinos, however, have no qualms about weight-related issues. Almost always, meeting somebody you haven't seen for quite some time (this is relative, it could mean just a few days to a few years) would elicit instant comments about (1) your weight ("ang taba mo") (2) the color of your skin ("ang puti mo") and (3) the state of your love life ("may asawa ka na ba? wala? why not?").

(3) above is easily defensible: just say the I'll-cross-the-bridge-when-I-get-there bit, or simply claim you're a "workaholic." As for the state of your skin's pigmentation, you can't really comment much about it. When you've been active outdoors swimming, rowing, jogging and biking, you'd turn a shade darker. And then people start comparing you to a construction worker. When it's raining most of the time so you stay indoors, you'd turn a shade paler, and people start likening you to a chick. Then they start suspecting that you're taking Glutathione pills or going to derma clinics for a Diamond Peel.

It is (1) above that a lot of people are most sensitive to mainly because among the three, it is the one closely associated with self-esteem issues (yah, I got this from Oprah).

Ang taba mo is merely a statement of fact that you're fat. But if spoken with emphasis on taba (as in "tabaah"), it could actually mean that "you're HUGE."

Ang taba mo naman seems to suggest that the speaker finds it unfortunate, even distressing at finding you fat.

Ang taba taba mo, by repeating the word twice, suggests that you're excessively fat.

Ang tataba nyo is a collective generalization, almost an accusation that you and the rest of the group love to raid the refrigerator.

Anyway, when I met up with Jun, Jen and Pam over the week-end to swim at Rizal, I realized all of us (yes, myself included) appeared heavier.

After swimming however, we hied off to Amici for a hearty lunch of sun-dried tomato and four-cheese pizzas, seafood pasta and gelato.

Yes, we promptly put back the calories we just burned, and added some more.

Done and Over With

What Neri did not disclose in the Senate hearings on the ZTE deal, Jarius Bondoc bared in his column anyway. The stench of the ZTE corruption is starting to get to me, I hope I won't be writing about it anymore.

Anyway, Neri reportedly warned Gloria about the stinky deal three times but pressed him to approve it anyway. In addition, he said the deal was the handiwork, apart from Abalos and ZTE officials, of Enrique Razon of ICTSI which holds the container port services monopoly at the Manila South Harbor.

I don't know how Razon got into the picture, since ICTSI is a port operator and not into telecommunications. Razon earlier threatened Neri over the latter's plans to liberalize port operations at the Manila South Harbor. International port services are currently operated only by two companies, the other one being ATI. (How do I know this? I covered both companies when I worked as an investment analyst).

To deflect the heat away from Gloria, clearly Abalos will have to be the sacrificial lamb.

Flipside

Neri may have been the Man of the Hour when he testified against Abalos last Wednesday, but the whole episode only revealed that he was totally unsuitable for the NEDA post as well. Pressed by Sen. Roxas about why he approved the project despite the likelihood of high-level corruption, he was unable to defend his actions. He simply hemmed and hawed and tried to pass the buck to the DOTC, claiming that he only approved of the concept and the policy, but the implementation issue should be directed at the DOTC.

He may have shown moral courage when he confirmed Abalos' bribe, but the fact that he did not block this project when he was clearly in a position to means he should be made accountable as well.

Incentive

Just came back from a seminar on labels and self-adhesives. The speaker, a soft-spoken Thai rightfully observed that although it was his first time in the Philippines, he felt as if he were in Thailand: apparently, Thais and Filipinos look alike.

Anyway, most of us who attended the seminar had trouble understanding his accented English, and quite a few immediately went into a coma.

At the end of session, nobody had any question.

And so I raised my hand.

The organizers gave me giveaways, sort of like a prize for paying attention to the lecture. Because of the incentive, the speaker suddenly found himself inundated with inquiries.

Political Noise

International Front: The two most important institutions in Burma, the monks and the military, have squared off and are now on a collision course. Unfortunately, the Burmese situation have started to deteriorate with what appears to be violent dispersals. There are reports of monks being beaten up and held by the military.

I think the days of the military junta are numbered. This is a golden opportunity for Aung San Suu Kyi and the opposition to step up the pressure initiated by the monks.

Domestic: Neri confirmed the bribe by Abalos but dragged the President into the picture when he said he informed her about it. I was correct: Gloria knew about this anomalous transaction early on. Neri is partly to be blamed. He approved the project without the benefit of a careful feasibility study.

Erap wants a full pardon which involves keeping his almost PhP1 billion assets and which doesn't require him to admit any wrong doing. If this will push through, what was the whole point of the plunder trial? This will only set a bad precedent.

Chinese Connection

I really wonder how China might deal with this latest episode on the ZTE deal. If a "bribe flowchart" starting with ZTE Executives will be established, it means that corruption on the Chinese side did in fact take place as well.

Apparently, Chinese Embassy officials have worked closely with ZTE in closing the deal with Philippine officials. If bribery from ZTE Executives can be established, Chinese officials will be implicated as well.

However, I don't think this will still amount to anything, as ZTE was the hand-picked company of the Chinese government that was supposed to undertake the broad-band network.

Change in Burma

Burma's ruling military junta created a new capital (I forgot the name, it's consonant-heavy) in the middle of the country away from Rangoon, or Yangon which is in the south.

The government is under intense pressure not to crackdown on the protesting monks who have been staging public protests for the past couple of weeks.

By moving the capital to some remote location, the junta is clearly retreating to a secure fortress. To the generals, this is a tactical move: there's no way barefoot monks could storm critical government offices when the new capital where they have chosen to be is located so far away.

Unfortunately, this is also a chink in the armor, a signal that the military is not totally in control of the country. Otherwise, why make the sudden decision to move the capital to I-can't-remember-the-name?

Washington sees the opportunity for change and in fact, Bush have announced new sanctions to push the generals into a corner.

Increasingly, countries are pressing China to intervene, knowing fully well that Beijing cannot afford to waste the opportunity to stabilize the region ahead of the Olympics. In addition, China is Burma's biggest trade partner. Since the rest of the world refuses to do business with Burma, China is Burma's remaining lifeline. And Beijing and Washington are both aware of this.

Burma is a pariah state, shunned by many governments for suppressing human rights and running the country with iron fists. The generals do not really care about world opinion. They have kept opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, in house arrest for like, a decade now. Unfortunately, with China breathing heavily behind their backs, the generals can't possibly strike the helpless monks.

The situation is still unravelling, but I think the Burmese have had enough and they simply want the same rights guaranteed under any decent, democratic society.

Man of the Hour

I think former NEDA Secretary and current CHED Commissioner Romulo Neri will put the lid on Abalos' coffin tomorrow when he testifies before the Senate. Over the past week, the Senate investigation focused largely on Joey de Venecia's word against Abalos.

Neri's testimony is critical because should he choose to toe the government's line and echo the claim that no irregularity took place in forging the deal with the Chinese, and should he deny de Venecia's claim that Abalos tried to bribe Neri in exchange for supporting the deal in favor of ZTE, it will shift the tide of public opinion away from de Venecia, bolstering DOTC Secretary Mendoza's accusation of calling the whistle-blower a "sore loser".

But earlier interviews with Neri indicate that he will likely spill the beans, so to speak. On TV, he appeared "disturbed" at the way things are proceeding and have lamented about the difficulty of instituting real reforms in government.

The academe has rallied support around him, I think mainly to pressure him to "do the right thing", so to speak.

I hope he will choose to do the right thing and let the ax fall where it should, on Abalos' head.